Club Penguin Behind the Scenes - The 3D Penguin

It's a flashback to 2006 as I walk through one of the original 3D files that held the Club Penguin penguin and clothing items.
Skip to 6:14 if you just want to see the penguin stuff.
Part 2: • Club Penguin Behind th...
NOTE: Just because I happened to find this doesn't mean that I have every old and archived file from the early days of Club Penguin. If you're looking for something specifically, archives.clubpe... would likely be a far better resource for you.

[@Van-Leo]

27:30 when mom let you use the credit card to get 1 month membership

[@MyPing0]

😂😂

[@White_Slugger]

666 likes seems ligut

[@Van-Leo]

@@White_Slugger OH DANG

[@zxcmnbzxc6522]

ngl wearing everything in the game looks pretty cool

[@jnbplaysgames]

And you leave it all on when you lose it lol

[@Chomuggaacapri]

19:43 Kowalski, Analysis

[@ChrisHendricks]

KOWALSKI: So far, sir, the only thing I've found is that wearing these things in broad daylight is a horrible idea. PRIVATE: (dazed) myYyyyYy eeyyyyyes....

[@Wooktent]

@@ChrisHendricks That was surprisingly flippin spot on on their personalities.

[@axoh3202]

@@Wooktent I feel like Chris is a huge penguins of Madagascar fan and he saw this one chance to make a joke

[@bingoccolon]

15:18 you can hear the fear in his voice, and from that we know he has had nightmares involving the original 3d penguin without eyes towering over him menacingly

[@ChrisHendricks]

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!

[@AngelHarris-j2b]

@@ChrisHendricks XD *NO*

[@Tech70]

The penguin with ALL the items though... I can't unsee that.

[@notfish]

I mean, not like you'd want to unsee it.

[@LandyRShambles]

I went 12 years without knowing they had eyelids

[@shprite781]

RIGHT

[@tessaforth841]

NO WHY WOULD YOU POINT THAT OUT

[@Fa1seP0sitive]

I never played and I knew they had eyelids...

[@flines]

WHAT

[@doggo896]

I am so confused

[@dcook435]

19:43 seeing the club peinguin model in 3d at front is actually scary

[@myang12003]

They were actually taller than what they look like in game? What an optical illusion!

[@Fupicat]

That's so surreal! I never imagined there was so much manual work put into the clothing items, mainly because there were so many.

[@snakedeadly]

@Jorimkek Yo quiero taco bell

[@Bolonis-boloniasca]

eu vim do futuro,e isso é real ou feike

[@eduardozgz]

@@snakedeadly That wasn't Spanish

[@acronyx8880]

Yo quiero mcdonalds

[@snakedeadly]

@@acronyx8880 Uh no, Yo quiero Taco Bell!

[@MondoMurderface]

I'm impressed you remember it so well. I think back 17 years onto my old 3D projects and its just a fuzzy blur of weird applications and strange workflows I can't quite recall. I vaguely remember something called milkshape and a weird photoshop clone that did a nice frost effect.

[@ChrisHendricks]

It's easier to remember certain things when the entire Internet has recorded elements of it for future reference. Keeps the memory fresh. :)

[@q_q123]

Even as a kid I was kinda amazed at how there were 3D models of every clothing item. I liked to play around with 3D modeling. Thank you sir for making my childhood packed with fun adventures.

[@TheXppp1]

Seeing you struggle to do basic stuff in this software just makes me glad modern 3D software is so intuitive and quick

[@grogcito]

Holy shit, this video just made me appreciate blender so much more than I already do. Tbh, swift 3D makes valve's hammer look like a professional cad software

[@TorqueCP]

Man, towards the end I definitely got some heavy nostalgia. My mind took be back to when I was a kid playing this game. Time has flown by hasn't it? 😭😭

[@Guh-tw4io]

if you want you can play the millions of private servers i know alot if u want normal nostalgia go to club penguin rewritten but it you want to expierience alot of stuff at once go to free penguin

[@morgankasper5227]

@@Guh-tw4io they seem pretty public to me

[@morgankasper5227]

@@keirsten054 cpo is dead cause its the island one club penguin rewitten isnt dead youve just been going to the wrong servers and its updated alot so it will probs get that feature if it dosent already have it

[@hiturana3290]

I totally lost it at 16:37 when you described the bow as 'something a girl might... wear???' that exactly describes some people's view on women's clothing :D i love this series, i always wondered how it was all done and why certain items looked so different when you bought them at the gift shop vs how they looked when you put them on. Thanks for showing us this!

[@bloodakoos]

it's him, the penguin behind the scenes

[@RandomNAME-cs6kw]

Club Penguin really changed after the art style "change" in clothing items. The first example that comes to mind is the classic straight ball caps versus the newer hats that were fit "sideways" on the heads. Pretty sure the art style change was around the time that Disney bought the company, could be totally wrong. I really preferred the classic clothing items!

[@justbny9278]

It was a good while after the Disney Bought out

[@messofabeing9392]

Also they put so many shadows on the outfits and made them really big. They never really fit the penguin model, it made them look squished and weird

[@Ellaliluleloka]

Now i understand why in the early years Penguins drawn in 2D looked more tall and slim vs. penguins drawn years later that seemed more chonky. It is because the OGs knew what the 3D model actually looked like without the perspective used in game.

[@cizd]

This explains so much. I'm glad no one works like this anymore...Well I honestly think you might be the only ones that ever worked like this in the first place.

[@ChrisHendricks]

You might be right. It was a great solution for what we needed in 2005, but it had definite drawbacks later on.

[@cizd]

@@ChrisHendricks definitely. There is a reason club penguin was able to be so successful. These days we're a bit spoiled in terms of how accessible pro level tools are.

[@Bentroen_]

17:53 I'm glad you mentioned Aunt Arctic 'cause I immediately reminded of her! But yeah, she wore a different thing.

[@dragonfire7965]

I’m sure at least someone woulda worn the hair bow. Recently I was looking at how the clothes were on the penguin in 3D and was like “did they… model every clothing item?” I cannot believe you actually did with no bones, damn. And that software looks so hard to use too

[@dragonfire7965]

Thank you for making my penguin look so cool

[@ChrisHendricks]

Every single item. Though honestly, modelling each item and rendering it was actually faster than trying to create each item by hand drawing it.

[@keepyourshoesathedoor]

I would’ve 😂😂😂

[@godsguitar7]

Fantastic video, I've been waiting for ages for a video talking about the 3D side of Club Penguin. As a 3D modeler, it is really hard to model CP stuff when the whole game was art focused. I am so happy this video was made, thank you so much for making this video. I can now perfect the penguin model we use for Club Penguin 3D and also just be more satisfied with the accuracy. So happy people are seeing the process of how it was all done as well. Thanks a bunch!

[@grubbba7586]

yay will cp3d be reopened earlier now

[@flameyoshi07]

Cool

[@Steffsh]

"cp" hol up

[@chubbsmcgee5393]

@@Steffsh lmao

[@technoguyx]

@@Steffsh *F B I, O P E N U P*

[@LetThereBeMayhem]

I want to just congratulate you on working hard and well on club penguin, me and the game have many joyous memories together, too bad the game was discontinued.

[@justarandompaper4238]

This man could recreate 50% of Club Penguin

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

This man CREATED 50% of Club Penguin in the first place!

[@snakedeadly]

@@TheSmart-CasualGamer I think he ment to revive it not sure though just my 2 cents

[@_Otterocket]

I really liked club penguin and i just want to say thank you and all the other team members... thank you for making my childhood a reality

[@ryleyw3684]

Glowiebgv Do you know about CPR?

[@_Otterocket]

@@ryleyw3684 yeah

[@vapor404]

Really love seeing the technical side behind my fav childhood game kind of amazed that the 3d software used couldn’t support 4 sided polygons especially since that’s industry and educational standard now

[@Yoyoitsyoji]

Huh, I never really thought that they were 3D models converted to sprites. Really interesting. Also the front view of the model is terrifying

[@scrump11]

Club penguin took up such a big part of my childhood since '06. Never thought id be able to see something so behind the scenes like this.

[@wofi784]

A moustache was released later on, in fact, many were, but not that one.

[@KiwiLuvsPieOfficial]

Maybe he doesn’t remember or he wasn’t around at that time

[@DarkRelm22]

For the first 3 minutes or so I was having anxiety because of how complex it looks... then it became easier to understand as he showed us. This is really cool!

[@azurda7483]

I never realize the models were actually that tall, they look really short from the in game perspective

[@OmegaChase1002]

My favorite memory of this 3D model is that one Music Jam party where there was this glitch where if you played the guitar while wearing the new guitar shirt, the penguin would be doing the "playing the guitar" animation, but the shirt would be doing the "throw a snowball" animation.

[@Cynderace]

no one is gonna talk about the moment 7:06 which literally contains the special dance

[@glassjoe1677]

it's him the one the only

[@tiago9679]

I actaully never knew the penguin was a 3D model until now :b

[@aluna_planet]

I was blessed with this recommendation today. Thank you Chris Hendricks.

[@AscensionUSA]

27:30 only true OGs walked around like this

[@daniellarossetto]

this is amazing! i was 9 when i started playing club penguin back in 2006 i think and now seeing this as a designer is sooo interesting!! plsss post more about the process

[@DARKINBLADE.]

This is some cool stuff, and shows how far technology and game development has come in just 20 years time. Thank you for being a really magical part of my childhood, and so many others.

[@Pejelo]

This a real Club Penguin Developement stuff

[@1998Anderson]

it makes me miss it so much, this year my penguin would turn 10 years old

[@frostflaggermus]

I REMEMBER THE SOMBRERO SNORKEL PENGUIN AHH also gosh it's fun to see the snorkel actually poke out of the hat. like it would with 3d models anyway. edit: the miniclip forums omg.... i used to browse those as a kid, from fall 2006. too young to legally join them yet, but i definitely miss them. i never knew the blue cape was because of that place!! :O

[@Toaster278]

Ah, the bad ol' days of horrifically clunky 3d software. Though in seriousness being able to render a 3d object directly to 2d vector shapes is actually really cool and something I could totally use now

[@dombjomb]

You are doing the Lord’s work, my dude

[@ChrisHendricks]

I hope so! And not just in the videos I make. :)

[@mr.froglito1474]

I’ve never seen the penguins so tall!

[@Ping54]

Am I the only one that at 27:31 thought "well maybe you weren't wearing your sombrero in a goofy fashion"

[@LukeTheLPSWolf]

I actually remade this model in blender, I might showcase it soon

[@zachanikwano]

That whole part about the bowtie and perspective bit reminded me of Zelda A Link Between Worlds and how everything was tilted in order to give it the same look and feel as A Link to the Past. Neat! Also loving these videos. Found your channel through Pengicitis. It’s so fun looking at how a game I used to play endlessly as a kid was made. Plus I’ve got a blooming interest in game design hobby so this is just pure delight. Thank you so much!!

[@kixlepixel]

damn, and i thought blender was hard to get used to at the beginning of my game development course, if i had needed to use this i think i would've cried. big props for making cool stuff with limited software

[@ChrisHendricks]

As a fellow Blender user, I can confirm that while Blender is quirky, Swift 3D was far less useful.

[@cookievideomaker4042]

27:31 this character can defeat thanos

[@ChrisHendricks]

Only with an Infinity Mitten.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

@@ChrisHendricks Which, sadly, is a Bait Item.

[@lukas5220]

Swift 3D looks absolutely painful to use

[@Schnozinski]

Wait... So is this how Club Penguin iOS (not island) was possible??? I thought for the longest time that Disney must be crazy for making 3D models for every asset from the web version just for a mobile version, but they were actually there the entire time.

[@GeorgeCowsert]

Unironically this model has a better style and design than what CPI had. It has that same old Flash feel, but with the flexibility of being a proper 3D model. Plus it also doesn't feel kid-ified and altered to fit what the industry views as advertiser friendly.

[@runforitman]

I cant believe how much I take blender for granted

[@Boooo]

wow they kinda look like the actual art for the penguins when you see them head on

[@VenomSnakeMGS]

Wow I just found this channel and its great. Thank you for making these videos. I played CP when I was a kid and this stuff is neat.

[@KellyAesop]

thank you for developing this. it made me happy as a kid in 06 :)

[@JUAN-ee5do]

The 3d penguin model is so beautifuul

[@johnnyr.2558]

Thanks for working on a childhood favorite game of mine. I would have never guessed I would gain passion for 3D animation and later on come across this video.

[@snowyvanter7114]

You got me to sit through a half hour uncut barley edited video with only your voice, congrats youre entertaining asf

[@Jos3jmsfkl]

I always thought the sprites/vectors were handrawn

[@ChrisHendricks]

One clothing item was! The ghost sheet was completely done by hand. But making the clothing items this way was far faster.

[@keepyourshoesathedoor]

This is so cute. I wish I could make custom items on top of the penguins.😂

[@phantom_bread]

Super cool behind the scenes stuff. Would have loved to have seen this back in the day ten years ago when I played Club Penguin lol

[@T045-TERR]

All of the manual post processing due to the tool limitations for new clothing items sounds like a tedious experience. I wouldn't have expected the tools to be as lacking as they seemingly are while playing way back when. Y'all did good work.

[@rap4life961]

Thank you so much Chris!! Your channel is the best!

[@iaintneednoIDforthis]

thank you for ever protecting that CD for years

[@duckfilms3662]

We must find that hard hat.

[@thevoidfish]

I never got the aunt arctic pun before until hearing you say it out loud! it doesn’t quite work with a british accent lol

[@ChrisHendricks]

Yeah, for those who say "aunt" as "ont" or "awwnt", the pun doesn't work nearly as well.

[@Dadted]

This was really cool to see! Thank you for sharing! Loved it.

[@CHi-le1qc]

Wow thanks for showing this. I was obsessed with the virtual world of club penguin (and wanted to make my own games on Macromedia Flash 8 at the time lol). I would’ve killed to see this stuff when I was a kid

[@mayh3xx]

when you scroll across the video he does his little dance. beautiful

[@hoffee6052]

_they were 3D..._ *t h e y. w e r e. 3 D.*

[@TheHellInspector]

Is the model available anywhere? Cause that would be awesome

[@VincentiusTheSecond]

28:08 How could you not make that your avatar! I was screaming at my phone "PLEASE RENDER" before you did it and took a screenshot before you even said the avatar thing lmao

[@JerryKid72]

would've been easier to just make the penguin model a flat black color that way you could manually select it a little cleaner. but this is a fun walk through how crappy it was to make 3d assets back then.

[@ChrisHendricks]

Good catch! We eventually did recolor the rest of the penguin's 3D model blue to make it easier to cut out after the fact (leaving the clothing render behind). This file was from before that change was made.

[@JerryKid72]

@@ChrisHendricks oh thank God haha

[@ffontecha]

Great viedo, Chris! I always wanted to know in what program you guys made the original penguin. From what I see in the video I imagine it was a real pain working on that program, haha. By the way, I recently worked on a 3D model of a penguin and rigging; I would really appreciate if you could tell me what you think about it. The videos are on my channel and I also made a post in medium about it. Hope you can check it out. Greetings from Mexico :)

[@kreuner11]

i always imagine the penguin as much shorter than the model, which is reflected by the disney art of then

[@flines]

Im scared by the fact that the penguind are so tall

[@hypemugen]

can you give us the original 3d file?

[@dogma8538]

this is so crazy and inspiring to see cg bts of old games i used to play as a kid 😁

[@dominicanfrieza1394]

This is legendary.

[@TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

Never played club penguin. Legitimately didn’t even know it was a thing until it was offline for good. It kinda sounded like the next generation’s Neo Pets or Gaia Online? In any case it’s cool to see this. Simple but effective design.

[@ramen.9089]

gee, we had pointy heads

[@bamcki991]

It was in 3d?!?!??!

[@tinkarobert]

Excellent, Thank You for sharing Chris.

[@JJDocx]

Wow, the penguins are very tall. The perspective in-game hide the real height.

[@Mariofan121]

Was this also used to make furniture's?

[@jeremyaster7470]

The furnishings were always 2D drawings.

[@zweks]

I would love to see a render of club penguin from this angle! like from the penguin's perspective

[@zuppoblitz6627]

Please make a link to download the penguin model and all of its assets so that I can play Half Life 2: Club Penguin.

[@adrians380]

the OG penguin

[@Gunslingerwashere]

*I need this.*

[@c0_nes]

now I'm grateful for maya for once..

[@birdie8006]

9:28: mask off. fuck it, mask on.

[@notadam3985]

why didn't you just hide the penguins when you rendered them with items instead of rendering them fully and manually taking the penguins out afterwards in flash?

[@ChrisHendricks]

Excellent question! The answer is that if we rendered the item by itself, it would render the back of the item too. For example, if the penguin was wearing sunglasses, and turned around, you'd still see the sunglasses on the penguins head from behind. (This would be easier to explain in a new video.)

[@Babo1336]

I didnt even know they were 3d, thats epic

[@snuskieVT]

Miniclip forums.. wow, really adding a nostalgia double whammy haha

[@czechcrusader6461]

The modeling process is looking tedious as hell, nowadays you have many tools to simplify it. But props to the oldschool modelers.

[@chikato7106]

I hated club penguin because it caused Toontown to get ignored and then closed.

[@ruler_of_everything]

person: oh i don't play tf2 that much every single one of the person's mercenaries: 27:32

[@kN0li]

🐧Awesome!! Club penguin was my childhood, thank you for making it amazing. Weird question, can I add you on steam? 😂

[@Kule1Toxic]

i think why people wanted the beta hat is because its very rare only a couple hundred people only have it

[@Kule1Toxic]

thats pretty cool!